


The Prince and the Pea

by NoblestRomanOfThemAll (AnxiouslyGoing)



Series: Before They Were Found [2]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Autistic!Logan, Human Sides (Sanders Sides), Kid Fic, Kid!Roman, kid!Logan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:14:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26488510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnxiouslyGoing/pseuds/NoblestRomanOfThemAll
Summary: Logan was a big brother. It was true that Roman was his foster brother and not his family brother like Patton, but still Roman was his brother. And it was a big brother's job to make sure his little brother was happy.
Series: Before They Were Found [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1892722
Kudos: 67





	The Prince and the Pea

Logan's brow furrowed in concentration as he added some finishing touches to the picture he was working on. It was a far cry from any illustrations in an actual storybook, but they weren't the worst pictures ever. Or hopefully Roman wouldn't think so... Admittedly it was a bit of a rush job, but when Roman had come home from school three days previous, upset that the librarian wouldn't let him borrow  _ The Princess and the Pea _ , Logan knew he had to do something to remedy the situation. 

\-----

Roman picked up the stack of papers like they were made of glass. He couldn't read very well yet, but he knew enough to recognize the words as similar to the one the librarian wouldn't give him. He plopped right onto the floor by his bed and carefully went through each page taking in the hand drawn pictures, and reading what he could. 

Then he read it again. 

And again. 

Footsteps that sounded too big to be Logan's were the only thing that stopped his read and Roman quickly stuffed the pages into his pillow case. If the librarian said he couldn't have the book then maybe his foster family would say no too. He had to keep it safe. 

Shanon stuck her head in the door just as Roman was sitting down with an okay-to-have-book. "It's time to pick Logan up from study group. You ready?" 

"Yeah!" Roman jumped up eagerly. 

\---- 

Roman ran ahead Shanon to meet Logan and threw his pudgy arms around him. "Thank you for the surprise," he said quietly. "I hid it so no one can take it away." 

Logan smiled and patted Roman's back. "You're welcome," he answered quietly to keep with Roman's conspiratorial tone. 

"Someone's excited today," Shanon commented when she finally caught up to the boys. "How was tutoring today?" 

"It was fine," Logan answered. "Fractions are still weird, but they're starting to make more sense." 

"That's good to hear. Do you want to invite any of your friends over for dinner?" 

"No thank you," he replied simply. 

"Don't you like hanging out with the other kids?" 

Logan just shrugged. "Sometimes. But sometimes they're boring." 

Shanon frowned a little at that. "That isn't very nice to say." 

The youth shrugged again. "They don't say nice things about me either. Devin said I'm dumb because I have to wear glasses. And Sophie said it's weird that I play with Roman." 

"Well, did you tell the teacher?" 

"Only the first time." Logan pushed his glasses back. "Ms. Tina said to ignore them." 

"Oh." Shanon answered, not sure how else to respond. 

"Are we going home now? I still have a packet to read for science." 

"Y-yeah. Yeah, we're going home now." 

\----

No sooner had the hall light gone out than Roman was pulling out his special book and hopping out of bed. He padded over to Logan's side of the room and pounced on the older boy. 

"Shhhh!" Roman hushed loudly at Logan's protests at being jumped on. "Can you read this to me now?" He held out the paper book and Logan sighed. 

"Alright. Go sit by the nightlight so we can see." 

Roman let out a quiet squeal of delight and bounced out of the bed and snatched his pillow and stuffed red dragon before scrambling to the wall. 

Logan tugged the blanket from his bed and covered Roman with it before settling down next to the smaller boy. 

"It's not exactly like the one from the library," he explained. "This one is about a prince. Like you. In fact, he even has the same name as you."

"Really?" Roman gasped.

"Really," Logan answered seriously. 

_ Once upon a time there was a prince named Roman. But he wasn't like other princes. He didn't have a castle or a horse, or even a cape. All he had was a sword because he had just run away from an evil Dragon-Witch. _

Roman gasped loudly. "Like my Dragon-Witch!" 

"Is it okay that I borrowed your idea?" Logan asked.

The tot nodded eagerly. "Keep going."

_ Prince Roman knew the Dragon-Witch witch liked to steal princes so when he escaped he went to find the castle he was stolen from.  _

_ He walked for a very long time.  _

_ But when he would find a castle nobody believed he was a prince!  _

_ "You don't have a horse or a cape!" They would say and send him away.  _

_ So the prince kept walking.  _

_ One day he found another castle. But he was tired or people making him leave so he started to leave before anyone could tell him to go away.  _

_ But another prince told him to stop. This prince was Philip.  _

Roman let out another gasp. "Like from Sleeping Beauty?" 

Logan nodded. "I think so." 

"Cool! Keep going," Roman ordered and huddled closer to Logan's side. 

_ Prince Philip asked why a stranger was coming to his castle and Prince Roman told him all about how he escaped the Dragon-Witch and then walked and walked for a long time to find the castle he had been taken from.  _

_ This made Prince Philip very excited because he remembered that one time the Dragon-Witch had come to his castle and stole the other prince. But he didn't tell Prince Roman this yet. First he took him to the king and queen.  _

_ "That can't be the prince!" They said. "He doesn't even have a cape!"  _

_ Prince Roman was sad. He thought they would make him leave, but Prince Philip had an idea. _

_ There was a very old story about a princess that nobody would believe was a princess because she didn't have a crown.  _

_ The queen made the princess sleep on the top of lots of mattresses and underneath all of them was one pea.  _

_ It was a test. If the girl without a crown could feel the pea then she must be a real princess. The old story said that the girl couldn't sleep at all because of the pea and so everyone knew she was a real princess.  _

_ Prince Philip said they should try to do the same test with Prince Roman.  _

_ The king and queen agreed.  _

_ They made the servants make a big pile of mattresses on top of one pea.  _

_ The next day Prince Roman was very tired and when the queen asked why he was so tired he said, "I don't want to be rude, Queen, but I think the bed was broken. It was like sleeping on a bed of rocks in the Dragon-Witch's lair!"  _

_ Then the king and queen knew that Roman without a cape must have really been the prince that the Dragon-Witch stole.  _

_ The whole kingdom had a big party to celebrate and they lived happily ever after.  _

_ The end. _

Roman yawned and arched his back, stretching his arms over his head. "I like that one better." He frowned a little in sudden thought. "Can princes be knights _and_ princes?"

"I think so. Knights have to be specially trained to sword fight, so if a prince uses a sword then he can be a knight too." 

Roman nodded tiredly. "I like that idea. I want to be a prince _ and _ a knight." 

"Both princes and knights need lots of sleep." Logan tugged Roman to his feet and guided him to bed. "So we need to go to bed now. Goodnight, Sir Prince Roman." 

Roman giggled and snuggled under the blankets. "I like that name. Goodnight, Sir Prince Logan," he mumbled around a yawn and drifted off.

Logan carefully tucked the book under his pillow. "Goodnight."

**Author's Note:**

> The Princess and the Pea was one of my very favorite fairy tales as a little kid. I can't really say why, but it was one that just has always sort of stuck with me. I have found that there are several versions of it, and thought it might be fun to play with it a little myself.


End file.
